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H. N. POTTER.

SYSTEM OF LIGHTING BY GAS OR 'VAiPORELEOTRIG LAMPS. APPLICATION FILED r123. 26, 1903.

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UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

r, HENRY NOEL POTTER, OF NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO COOPER HEWITT ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

SYSTEM OF LIGHTING BY GAS OR VAPOR ELECTRIC LAlVlPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 751,41 1, dated February 2, 1904.

Original application filed May 23, 1901, Serial No. 62,182;

To a whom it may concern/.

citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Rochelle, in the county of. Westchester and State of New York, have invented Certain new and useful Improvements in Systemsof Lighting by Gas or Vapor Electric Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to circuits and apparatus which may be used in operating gas or vapor electrical devices, and it also includes an improved heating arrangement for apparatus of this class, as will fully appear in the following specification. i U

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which r Figure 1 is a diagram of a system of circuits adapted to the above named purposes, together with a detail view of a single gas or vapor electric lamp and my heating arrangement associated therewith; and Figs. 2, 3,- 4, 5, and 6 illustrate various modifications of the System shown in Fig. 1.-

The present application is a divisionof an application filed by me on the 28th day of May, 1901, Serial No. 62,182. In another division of the same original application, such division being numbered 1 15,1723, dated February 26, 1903, claims are made upon the vapor apparatus in its direct relations to theheater with- In the first figure ofthe drawings, 1 represents a transparent tubesay of glassconstituting the main portion of the container for asuitable conducting gas or vapor. Inthe present instance I have illustrated a lamp in which the cathode (shown at-e5) is a mass or puddle of mercury, While the anode (appearing at 2) is of iron. A bulb or enlargement 4.

7 and 8 are connected, respectively, to the anode ,2 and-the cathode 5. I surround the body of the lamp or a suitable portion thereof with a'heater-wire 13, which will generally be to thegenerator. I I gins Ito do -its work, whereupon the thermostat Divided and this application filed February 26, 1903. Serial No. 145,174.

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the mercury cathode, as the latter, owing to its large specific heat, can absorb considerable heat, and unlessextra heat is provided the duessarily' prolonged.

In the system illustrated in Fig. 1 the lamp itselffiand the heater-wire are arranged in separate parallel circuits supplied by a suitable generator? 0, the heater-Wire circuit including also an electrolytic or other interrupter 19 and the primary 17 of a suitable tact-pieces 7 9 and 86, the former of which in the position illustrated in the drawings bridges two contact-terminals 80 and 81, while the latter is adapted when in the proper posi-.

tion to bridge two other stationary contactterminals 82 and 83. In this figure 1 have shown in the open portion of the lamp near the anode a small thermostat 84: of the usual mercury thermostat-type, Whose function it is to close the primary circuit of the starting transformer when thelamp hasbeen heated up to a point where it will; certainly start. Thus the circuit containing the interrupter and the starter primary will be-inactive until the ne-' :cessity for its ,actionintervenes. l r I provide a switch 71 in the common circuit,

by means of whichtheinitial operation of starting the lamp can be performed. When this switch isclosed, there is a circuit 'fromthe 1 generator 0. through the Contacts 81, 7 9, and

and thence through the heaterwire back The heaterimmediately be- 55 ration of starting of the lamp will be 'unnec- 1 84 is gradually affected until contact is made between the rising mercury in the thermostat through the interrupter 19, the primary 17,

the thermostat 84, and the contact already mentioned. In this way the interrupter is started into operation and electrical impulses are created in the primary 17, which in turn cause impulses in the secondary 18 and in the lamp-circuit. The action of the thermostat having been so timed as to bring about a closure of the circuit in which it is included only after or as soon as the lamp has been heated 'ment of circuits and a modified form of in- 'terrupting device-which I have found operative.

to a proper condition for starting, the impulses from the secondary will at once set the lamp into operation and the lamp-circuit will be closed. Thereupon the core 78 will be drawn down, the heater-wire circuit will be broken, and the secondary 18 is short-circuited by the bridging of the contacts 82 and 83 through the contact piece 86.

In Fig. 2 I have shown another arrangement embodying the same feature of thermostatic control; but I here operate the controlling-switch of the starter primary by means of a local circuit, including a battery 87 In this figure I show manually-operated switches 23 and 71, although these switches might obviously be made automatic in their operation.

Fig. 3 illustrates a remarkably simple arrangement. With this system of circuits I employ a combined cut-out and interrupter 88, consisting of a chamber containing mercury 89, an iron core 90, which dips down into the mercury when no current is passing, and an atmosphere of hydrogen gas. The core 90 is controlled by a coil 91, surrounding a portion of the container. As soon as current passes the core 90 is immediately lifted out of the mercury, being restored again by gravity when the current ceases to flow. The circuit passes from the dynamo 7 0 through the coil When current passes through the described circuit, it is automatically cut off every time the-core 90 is lifted out of the mercury 89, and a rapid automatic interruption and closure of the circuit take place, the action being analogous to that of the Neef hammer of a Ruhmkorfi coil. The heater receives current whenever the circuit is closed, and the starter secondary receives an impulse every time the circuit is broken, so that the lamp-tube is heated directly by whatever secondary discharge occurs and also indirectly by the heater-wire 13, the combined action being eventually suflicient to start the tube, whereupon the coil 91 holds the interrupter-contacts apart. The primary and secondary of the starter are so proportioned and disposed that they may operateas ballast for the 1 lamp.

In Fig. lIhave shown another modification, the main diflerence being that I have illustrated the interrupter diagrammatically at 88 and have inserted a certain amount of extra ballast 11 in series with the starter.

Fig. 5' illustrates another arrangement of circuits controlled by a single switch, this arrangement being generally the same as that illustrated in Fig. 4:, except that a separate interrupter 19 is employed in connection with the switch. In this arrangement, however, the starter primary, as well as the interrupter and the heater, is cut out by the action of the switch when the lamp has begun to operate.

In Fig. 6 I have shown another arrange- The peculiar feature of this interrupter is that the break occurs between two surfaces of mercury, the core 90 in this instance merely causing the mercury 89 to overflow from one compartment, 95, to another, 96, thereby establishing a circuit to the heater 13 and the electrolytic interrupter 19. When the core 90 is lifted on the passing of current through the lamp, the mercury in the two compartments flows apart, thus breaking the circuits of the heaterand the interrupter and starter primary and leaving the lamp in condition for continued operation. I have also shown in this figure of the drawings an outer tube 98, preferably of. ground glass, which 1s slipped over that part of the lamp upon WlllCh the heater-wire is wound. This is a very satisfactory way of hiding the heater-wire, and as it hinders convection it also causes the lamp to start more quickly.

The interrupter 19 may be of the well-known Wehnelt type, or it maybe any other suitable device adapted to cause very rapid lnterruptions of the circuit.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a system of lighting by gas or vapor electric lamps, a lamp of the class described, a transformer Whose secondary 1s 1n series with the lamp, a heater, an interrupter, and the primary of the transformer in shunt to the lamp, in combination with an automatic switch for interrupting or opening the shunt circuit or circuits.

2. In a system of lighting by gas or vapor electric lamps, a lamp of the class described, a transformer whose secondary is in series with the lamp, a heater, an interrupter and i lamp, in combination with a mercury switch for interrupting or opening the shunt circuit 0r circuits, the said switch being adapted to closed'in a chamber with mercury and hydromake and break contact between surfaces of gen gas, and adapted to make and break conmercury: tact with the-mercury in the chamber. 4.. In a system of lighting by gas or vapor Signed at New York, in the county of New 5 electric lamps, a lamp of theclass described, York and State of New York, this 20th day of 5 a transformer Whose secondary is in series February, A. D. 1903.

with the lamp, a heater, and the primary of HENRY NOEL POTTER.

the transformer in shunt to the lamp, and a Witnesses: I

coil in the same shunt-circuit adapted to act WM. H. CAPEL, 0 upon a movable core, the said core being in- Tnos. HALDENBY BROWN, Jr. 

